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Grandma of boy who earned $300K in online fundraiser: We're in danger

Posted: 9:24 PM, Jun 29, 2016

Updated:2016-06-29 23:24:17-04

By:
Justin Boggs

The grandma of the boy who a Memphis man helped raise more than $300,000 for on Go Fund Me said earlier this week that her family is “in danger” after people began finding out about the massive fundraiser.

The family of Chauncy Jones Black moved out of their Memphis home last week have been staying in hotels as the fundraiser swelled to $326,000 as of Wednesday evening.

“We are in danger,” Barbara Black said in a video posted on You Tube. "We don't have any money. I'm letting my family members know that we love them, but we are in danger. We love you all."

Black's family is in the process of setting up a trust fund with an attorney as the money from the fundraiser pours in.

The fundraiser started earlier in June after Black used his bus pass to get to a Kroger grocery store, which led him to Matt White in the produce section of the store.

With nothing in his stomach or his pantry, Black set off to the Kroger grocery store hoping someone would buy him some donuts in exchange for helping that person with their groceries.

"I was shopping for produce asking if he could help me carry my grocery bags to my car in exchange for buying him a pack of glazed donuts," White said in a viral Facebook post. "This kid looked like he had been turned down 100 times. He looked ashamed, hungry and broken."

Black said he dreamed of owning his own business. White wanted to help Black earn $250 so he could buy a lawnmower to make money providing lawn services. The fundraiser took off, and continues as the month of June ends.

Black also fired back at his biological mother, who he has been estranged from. Barbara Black, Chauncy's biological grandmother, has raised the 16-year-old since he was an infant.

"Why would you want to take action for something that you haven't done in 15 years, and now you want to take credit when someone is on the road to be something," Black said.

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